If my sorrow were deeper
I’d be, along with you, under
the ocean’s floor;
but today I learn that the oil
that pools beneath the ocean floor
is essence
residue
remains
of all our
relations
all
our ancestors who have died and turned to oil
without our witness
eons ago.
We’ve always belonged to them.
Speaking for you, hanging, weeping, over the water’s edge
as well as for myself.
It is our grief
heavy, relentless,
trudging
us, however resistant,
to the decaying and rotten
bottom of things:
our grief bringing
us home.

This is exactly the kind of Baltimore ephemera (especially in book form) that I live for. Hyman Pressman was the comptroller of Baltimore from 1963-1991. I don’t have any memories of him since he was before my time but, he seemed like quite the character.

For the purpose of this post, he was a compulsive verse writer. At the drop of a hat he would pen a few lines to commemorate an event, a person, and his sports teams.

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For Bill Crider

What is Palomino Mugging?

First, it is intended to be a spiritual successor to Bill Crider’s blog, Bill Crider’s Pop Culture Magazine. Bill’s blog was like a personalized RSS feed of interesting things, interspersed with reviews and other writings. That’s the approach I plan to take.

Second, I’ve written a lot of things at a lot of different places over the years. I hope to bring the bulk of my writings from over the years under one roof.

Related, I’ve had a large number of blogs, social media accounts, and Tumblrs. Some started on a whim, others with a very limited or specific focus. I plan on bringing all of those under one roof.

Third, I love social media but it doesn’t work well as a place holder or a book mark to remember something because it’s not easily searchable and older stuff can be hard to pull up. Things posted here should be easier to reference.

So, I will be using this space for my misc. thoughts; things I find that are interesting; music I like, whatever. In other words very much random stuff.

Palomino Mugging is a reference to something. Got a guess? Let me know.